Jack Turner Trophy IOM Open (and IOM Summer 2025 #4) – 31/5/25

Sixteen skippers, including four visitors from other clubs, turned up to compete for the Jack Turner Trophy, which was being raced for the first time in honour of a longstanding club member who had originally joined the club in circa 1955, and who sadly passed away in late 2024.

The forecast for the day was for a S to SW building breeze, which is always a challenging direction racing at Gautby Road with wind blowing across rather than along the lake.  However, as folks set about rigging and then testing their set up, the winds looked promising for this inaugural event with a light breeze blowing from the E/ESE virtually straight down the lake.  Alas this wind evaporated as the planned start time of 10am came and went.  When the breeze did eventually start to build from the forecast direction the challenge for the race team was in setting the course with either end of the lake being suitable for a start at some point as as the wind continued to swing.

After one general recall the racing finally got underway at around 10:55 with a standard 2 lap windward/leeward course with an unavoidable heavily starboard biased beat towards the clubhouse.  The challenge for the skippers, as it was for most of the day, was less about picking the shifts and more about deciding which race track to take.  Stay away from the windward shore and risk not laying the windward mark or being sailed over, or climb to windward with the greater chance of being becalmed.  As the day progressed the former was usually, but not always, the best way to go.  By race two and for the rest of the day, the start line moved to the clubhouse end, with a now heavy port bias on the first leg.    By lunchtime, the wind had built and by mid afternoon the gusts were ripping across the lake or coming straight down, interspersed with calmer patches.  At the starts the decision for skippers was, increasingly, whether to hold a starboard right of way position and then tack at the gun or look for a gap on port and hit the line at speed.  Some mastered this better than others.

Without providing a blow by blow account of every race there were some stand out performances on the day, lessons learned by some as well as incidents of interest.

No surprise to many, if any, that Brad Gibson prevailed in the conditions.  Even after one or two poor starts by his standards, he was able to weave his way back to the front in most races, making it look easy.

Robbie McIntosh, after a few up and down results in the morning races definitely found consistency in the afternoon.  With great starts and a well tuned boat for the conditions he put together a strong run of 8 races, which included two 1sts and four 2nds, giving him a well deserved 2nd overall on the day.

Roger Crates, who had travelled over from the East Coast, had two wins on the day and may have finished higher up the leader board if he hadn’t opted for his B rig during a mid afternoon tea break.  It was looking good on the first beat, but despite A riggers nose-diving and broaching at times, the calmer patches meant the A rig was the rig to be on as he was swallowed up on the first downwind leg.  Needless to say, he only did one race on it.

There were at least two races in the early afternoon where becalmed leaders close to what might loosely be called the windward mark, were descended upon by the rest of the fleet running down with a following breeze.  As you might expect the level and pitch of the calls for room/no room (typically called as water/no water!) increased as boats got closer to the mark. On both occasions carnage ensued with several boats locked together gifting a free pass to those who managed to stay out of trouble.  As this point the the race team opted for a windward gate, giving skippers the option to pick either the left or right buoy to round, which helped to reduce the dodgem sailing in later races.

Paul Plested learned the hard way that it’s best to put your transmitter strap around your neck after removing a layer!  Fortunately, fellow club member and volunteer Clive was able to lend him a transmitter for the rest of the day.  Paul’s transmitter is now in his airing cupboard drying out.

In race five, and perhaps fittingly on such a day, Brad handed the controls of his boat to one of Jack’s young great grandchildren.  Under Brad’s guidance he finished 8th!

Whilst the racing could not be said to have been sailed in champagne conditions, the day as a whole was a wonderful celebration in honour of the memory of Jack Turner. Both his daughter (Debbie) and son (John), plus their families spend most of the day being entertained by the sailing and by sharing memories of Jack with both members and visitors new and old.  The atmosphere on the shore and in the clubhouse made it a joyous experience for all.

At the prize giving both Martin Roberts and John Turner both spoke lovingly of Jack, and Debbie kindly presented the prizes to the top four helms including handing the Jack Turner Trophy to it’s first ever winner, Brad Gibson.